The Christmas Attic
by Gryffyn Addams
Summary: It's Christmastime, and Hana and Tora Hagane and Kabu Tategami can't wait for Santa to come! But wait: the Hagane household doesn't have a chimney! The kids decide to go up to the attic to inform Santa of this problem so he can go through a window. But upon coming up to the attic, will the kids discover a whole lot more than Santa waiting for them? Just a cute oneshot I typed up.


**A/N: Christmas oneshot! Little late in posting, I know, but better late than never, right?**

 **I thought this one up yesterday after getting back from seeing the Trans-Siberian Orchestra in concert, and decided to get it written down so I could post it today. So I put TSO's Carol of the Bells on a loop and typed it up!**

 **On a side note: OH MY GOSH OH MY GOSH OH MY GOSH IT WAS SO AWESOME LITERALLY NOT EVEN KIDDING TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA RUUUUUUUUUULES!**

 **Okay, I'm good now.**

 **Please enjoy! I know it's a little longer (okay a lot longer) than my usual oneshots, but enjoy anyway!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Metal Fight Beyblade, neither do I own the awesome music of Trans-Siberian Orchestra. I do, however, own Hana and Tora Hagane and Kabu Tategami.**

* * *

"Hey, Hana! Think fast!"

A young girl about nine years old with auburn hair turned around just in time to be whacked in the face by a spectacularly-aimed snowball.

"Hey!" she shrieked, wiping the snow off her face. She glared at the nine-year-old boy who had thrown the snowball, who also had auburn hair, and who was currently laughing at her reaction. "You're gonna pay for that, Tora!" Hana yelled, bending down and gathering up snow in her mitten-covered hands. But before she could pack it into a snowball, another one hit her in the back.

Hana turned around and glared at the boy laughing behind her. This boy was also nine years old, but had spiky green hair. He grinned innocently at her, waved, and took off.

"I am gonna get you, Kabu Tategami!" Hana yelled at his retreating back, quickly packing the snow in her hands into a ball. She was hit again on the back by yet another snowball, and turned to glare ever more fiercely at her twin brother, who was hiding behind the wall of snow he had made. "You too, Tora!"

Tora stuck his head out from behind his wall of snow, then put his thumbs in his ears and waved his hands at Hana, sticking out his tongue and blowing a raspberry at her as well. But since his eyes were closed, there was no way for him to see the oncoming snowball Hana threw at him, and was smacked in the face. Hana laughed as he froze in surprise, trying to comprehend what just happened, and ran off, scooping up more snow to pack into a snowball as she hunted down her next target.

From inside the B-Pit at a window, Gingka Hagane laughed as he watched the three-way snowball fight in the backyard, as well as Hana creaming both Tora and Kabu with snowballs. "Hey, Kyoya, come over and look at this!" he called.

Kyoya Tategami came over to join his old rival, and looked out the window at the snowball fight. "What's going on this time?" he asked.

"Hana's creaming the boys with snowballs!" Gingka laughed. "Kabu especially!"

Kyoya was shocked. "She's what?! That can't be what's going on!"

But as soon as the words left his mouth, both men saw Hana whip a spectacularly-aimed snowball at Kabu that smacked him square in the face.

Kyoya growled. "It's bad enough I could never win a beybattle against you," he said to Gingka in frustration, "but now I see Kabu losing a flipping _snowball fight_ against _Hana_!" He threw his hands up in the air. "It's humiliating!"

Hikaru came over to join them at the window, just in time to see Hana tackle Tora into the snow. "I see they abandoned the snowman they wanted to make," she remarked, looking over at a half-finished snowman that had indeed been abandoned by the kids. "Who's winning?"

"Right now, Hana," Gingka replied, beaming with pride. "Look at her aim!"

Hikaru looked out the window and saw Hana throw snowballs at both Tora and Kabu, who were both hit right in the face. She raised her eyebrows, impressed. "Wow. Right in the face."

"Every single time!" Gingka added, grinning in excitement. "Isn't it great?"

"For you, maybe," Kyoya mumbled, pouting. "My son can't even come close to hitting her or Tora with a snowball."

Hikaru put a hand on her husband's shoulder. "I'm sure it's not that bad,"

"Actually, it is," Gingka said, laughing as he gestured out the window. They all looked out, and saw Tora packing up snow in his hands, and throw it at Tora. Tora ducked, but really didn't need to, as the snowball's path made it land in the snow on Tora's far left. Tora laughed, and they heard him yell to Tora, "Missed me!"

Kyoya looked at Hikaru with a pointed look.

"Okay, maybe his aim is kind of bad," Hikaru admitted. "But that's nothing practice won't fix, right?"

"As if practice is going to help!" Gingka said, still beaming with pride. "My kids are lightyears ahead of your kid!"

"Gingka!" Madoka exclaimed, coming into the room and smacking her husband upside the head. "That's rude!"

"It's true!" Gingka protested. Madoka rolled her eyes at him.

"I'm sorry, Kyoya, Hikaru," she apologized to them. "Kabu's aim really isn't that bad, look." She pointed out the window, and they looked out just in time to see Kabu throw a snowball that hit Hana in the chest.

Kyoya looked happier upon seeing this, and became even more so when Kabu threw another snowball that hit Tora right in the face. "That's my boy!" he said proudly.

Gingka, on the other hand, sulked. "That was a lucky shot!"

"Was not, Gingka!" Kyoya retorted, turning back to him. "That was Tategami talent right there!"

"Was not!"

"Was too!"

The two women looked at each other, sweatdropped, then turned and went back into the kitchen.

"I swear, those two," Madoka sighed, taking the lid off a pot of sauce and stirring the contents. "As if their constant beybattling wasn't enough, now they're arguing over their kids! It's like we're married to a couple of man-childs instead of grown men!"

Hikaru gave a non-committal shrug in reply. "Guess some things never change,"

"Yeah," Madoka shrugged as well. "But I wish they wouldn't argue so much, especially on Christmas! Can't they take a day off for once?"

"Nope!" they heard Gingka and Kyoya shout, before promptly resume their argument.

Hikaru giggled. Madoka just sighed. "At least it keeps Gingka distracted."

Hikaru regarded the beyblade mechanic in front of her curiously. "Distracted from what?"

"You know Gingka's old friend Hyoma?" Hikaru nodded. "Lately, Gingka hasn't gotten any letters from him, even though he keeps sending letters to him. He's gotten really concerned about Hyoma's wellbeing. I keep telling him to go down to Koma Village and check up on him, but he hasn't."

"Why isn't he going?" Hikaru asked in concern.

"He says there's too much work to be done to go, especially with Christmas right around the corner," Madoka suddenly looked very stressed out. "I wish he would just go so he can stop worrying so much!"

Right then, Gingka came into the kitchen. "What are you ladies talking about?" he asked, grabbing a couple cashews from the bowl on the table.

"Oh, nothing," Madoka said to him, the stressed look on her face evaporating as she kissed him on the cheek. "Could you yell for the kids to come inside? Dinner's just about done."

Gingka grinned. "Great! I'm starving! What's for dinner?"

Madoka rolled her eyes at him. "You'll find out when it's served. Now go!"

* * *

"Hey! Give that back, Kabu!"

Kabu grinned, jumping away from Hana's grabbing hands and held the teddy bear he had just snatched from Hana up over his head. "Finders keepers, losers suck!" he crowed.

"You're just jealous I kicked your butt outside!" Hana said angrily as she grabbed for the teddy bear.

Kabu frowned. "Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Could you please not fight?" Tora said meekly as he watched Kabu and his sister. However, his plea fell on deaf ears, and Kabu and Hana continued to argue until the door opened and Hikaru walked into the room.

"Stop it, you two," she ordered. "Do you want to end up on Santa's Naughty List?"

Hana and Kabu looked ashamedly at the floor and mumbled, "No,"

Hikaru nodded. "That's what I thought. Kabu, give the teddy bear back to Hana. Did you kids brush your teeth?"

Hana and Kabu didn't say anything, which was enough of an answer for Hikaru, but Tora shyly raised his hand, saying, "I did, Mrs. Tategami,"

Hikaru smiled at him. "Very good, Tora. Hana, Kabu, go brush your teeth. Tora, while they're doing that, why don't you go say goodnight to your mom and dad?"

Tora nodded, then slid off his bed and ran out of the room behind Hana and Kabu. He bounded down the stairs, ready to say goodnight to his parents, but as he reached the entryway to the living room he quickly skidded to a stop, hearing voices. Curiously, he knelt down on the floor and peered into the living room.

"—heard from him for three weeks now," Gingka was saying.

"Why don't you call and ask if he's okay?" Madoka suggested. "Don't you have his number?"

"I do, but I don't usually call, so I don't know if it's even his number anymore," Gingka replied. Tora heard him sigh. "I'm getting really worried about him, Madoka. What if something's happened to him?"

"I'm sure Hyoma's fine," Madoka said decisively. "Gingka, listen, don't worry too much about this. It's Christmas, you should be happy right now."

Tora heard Gingka sigh again, and say, "What would I do without you, Madoka?"

Madoka chuckled. Then she said in a loud voice, "Tora, sweetie, you can come out now."

Tora jumped, then stood up and walked into the living room, looking very embarrassed. "Sorry, Mom," he apologized. "What were you and Dad talking about?"

Gingka grinned at him. "Nothing you need to worry about, kiddo," he said. "By the way, you may want to be more careful about hiding. We could see your shadow."

Madoka smacked him on the arm. "You're supposed to tell him not to spy, not give him advice!"

She turned from her husband, who looked like a scolded child, back to Tora, and gave him a smile. "Do you need anything before you go to bed, Tora?"

Tora shook his head. "No, I just wanted to say goodnight,"

Madoka nodded and went over to give him a hug. "Goodnight, sweetie. Now go get some sleep, you're going to have a big day tomorrow."

* * *

Tora was awakened later that night by rough shaking. "Tora. Tora, wake up," someone was saying.

Yawning, Tora sat up and groped for the lamplight, blinking heavily. He switched on the lamp, and found Hana standing in front of his bed, holding a flashlight.

"What's going on?" Tora yawned. "What time is it?"

(It was actually about one o'clock in the morning, but anyway…)

"Tora, you have to come with me," Hana whispered to him.

"Where?" Tora asked, even as he was sliding reluctantly out of bed.

"The attic,"

"Why are we going up to the attic?"

"You know how Santa comes down through the chimney to put presents under the tree?"

Tora nodded. "Yeah,"

"We don't have a chimney! At least I don't think we do."

"So?" Tora asked, wondering where she was going with this, because in his defense it was the middle of the night and he wanted to go back to sleep.

"So, how does Santa get into our house if there's no chimney?"

A sudden realization came to Tora. "If he can't get into the house, then he can't put any presents under the tree!"

"Exactly!" Hana agreed. "So I'm gonna go up to the attic, and wait for Santa to come. When he does, I'll tell him he'll have to go through a window this time. Come on, we can do it together!"

Now considerably more awake, Tora nodded his agreement. He grabbed a lantern from underneath his bedside table and followed his sister out of his room and into the hallway. Slowly, the twins crept carefully down the hallway towards the door that led to the stairs that would take them up to the attic. They were making good progress until Tora accidentally stepped on a squeaky floorboard.

Hana turned around. "Shh!" she exclaimed. "We can't wake up Mom and Dad!"

"Sorry," Tora whispered back.

They were just beginning to continue on when they heard a doorknob slowly turn on a door in front of them. They froze, thinking it was their parents, until the door slowly opened and Kabu stepped into the hallway.

"What're you guys doing?" he asked.

"Be quiet, Kabu!" Hana whispered furiously.

"Sorry," Kabu lowered his voice to a whisper and repeated his question. "What're you guys doing?"

"Don't tell Mom and Dad," Tora whispered back, "but we're going up to the attic."

"The attic? Why're you going up to the attic?"

"So we can wait for Santa to come," Hana replied. "We don't have a chimney in our house, so we need to tell Santa he has to come in through a window."

"Oh… can I come?"

Hana thought about it, then huffed, forgetting to be quiet. "Fine, you can come. But don't tell anyone!"

"I promise,"

* * *

When the three kids reached the attic, being very careful to be quiet, they found it dark and empty.

"Guess he's not here yet," Tora whispered.

Hana swung her flashlight around the room, until it fell on an old, huge, wooden trunk sitting in the corner. "Hey," she whispered to the boys, "look at this!"

She went over to the trunk, then knelt down and opened it. The boys looked over her shoulders as she shined her flashlight inside the trunk. Inside the huge trunk was a few toys, an old wreath that looked like it would fall apart if they picked it up, several pictures scattered throughout the trunk, several multicolored envelopes that had already been opened once before, and some old records.

Tora and Kabu knelt down on either side and joined Hana in rummaging through the trunk. Hana pulled out an envelope and looked at the front. "Hey, look at this! This one's from Grandpa!"

"Let's read it!" Kabu said eagerly, with Tora nodding just as excitedly.

And so, the three young children sat down on the floor in the dark, empty attic. Tora remembered his lantern and switched it on, setting it down on the floor in the middle of the little circle they made so it would illuminate the attic with a warm glow. Hana turned off her flashlight, then set it aside and opened the letter. She unfolded it, and began to read aloud.

"'Dear Gingka and Madoka: I hope you and the twins are well. Thanks for sending the Christmas card, by the way. I hope you got the one I sent you. I understand you couldn't make it to Koma this Christmas, what with the twins and all, and I hope you can come visit soon. Seeing the twins in the picture on the Christmas card reminded me of one Christmas when Gingka was about two years old. We had just finished having lunch when Gingka came up to me and begged me to take him outside…"

* * *

 _"Daddy!" A two-year-old Gingka came toddling into the kitchen, where Ryo was cleaning up the dishes from lunch. He tugged on Ryo's pant leg. "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!"_

 _Ryo looked down at him, smiling. "Yes, Gingka!"_

 _"Look, Daddy, it snowing!" Gingka pointed out the window, jumping up and down in delight as snow came floating down outside._

 _"So it is," Ryo remarked. He grinned down at the little toddler. "I suppose you want to go outside and play, huh?"_

 _Gingka's golden-brown eyes lit up. "Can we?" he begged, jumping up and down and tugging on Ryo's pant leg again. "Can we can we can we pleeeeeeease can we?"_

 _Ryo tilted his head and pretended to think about it. "Well, it looks awfully cold out there…"_

 _"Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease?" Gingka begged, giving Ryo puppy-dog eyes._

 _He looked so ridiculously cute Ryo couldn't help but laugh. "Okay, we can go outside."_

 _"Yay!" Gingka squealed, then took off, no doubt going to get his coat._

 _When Ryo had gotten Gingka, as well as himself, dressed for the snow outside, he opened the door and found Hokuto standing outside on the porch. "Hokuto!" he said in surprise. "What are you doing here?"_

 _"I came to wish you and Gingka a merry Christmas, of course," Hokuto replied matter-of-factly. "Why else would I be out here in the snow?"_

 _"Still don't like the snow, huh?" Ryo asked knowingly._

 _Hokuto shook his head. "Not in the slightest."_

 _It was at that moment that Gingka barreled out the door, now very excited to go and play in the snow. Almost immediately, he spotted Hokuto and ran over to him. The dog instantly looked uncomfortable, no doubt remembering the time Gingka tried to give him a bath. "Hokuto!" Gingka shouted excitedly. "Come on, let's go play in the snow!"_

 _Then he grabbed Hokuto around the dog's middle and dragged him off the porch, down the porch steps, and into the snowy front yard. While Gingka was laughing in delight, Hokuto was instead struggling to get out of the toddler's iron grip._

 _"No, no! I don't want to—Ryo! Ryo, help me! Tell Gingka to put me down! Ryo, come help me! Ryo!"_

 _But Ryo didn't respond, neither did he go and help. He was too busy laughing._

* * *

"… Hokuto was so angry with me, he refused to speak to me for about a month afterwards. I suppose Gingka will find this either funny or embarrassing. If he's embarrassed, Madoka, at least you have a funny story now to tell everyone else. I know that's what I'll be doing. Hope you two and the twins had a great Christmas, and I hope to hear from you soon. Sincerely, Ryo.'"

Hana was giggling as she finished reading the letter, as were Tora and Kabu.

"That was so funny!" Tora said as his giggling subsided. "We should ask Grandpa about that tomorrow!"

Kabu looked in the trunk, and pulled out another letter. "Look at this one!" He showed it to the twins, saying, "It's from your mom!"

"What's it say?" Hana asked curiously.

Kabu took out the letter, unfolded it, and read it aloud as another piece of the past was revealed to them.

"'Dear Hikaru,' That's my mom! Anyway, 'Dear Hikaru: I just got your letter in the mail. Congratulations! I think you and Kyoya will make great parents! It's the weirdest thing, but Gingka and I found out that I'm pregnant too! And even weirder is that we found out on Christmas, same as you and Kyoya! What happened was this..."

* * *

 _"Here, Madoka, I got you this,"_

 _Gingka handed Madoka a small present wrapped in green paper. The two of them were sitting on the couch in their house, opening presents for the first time as husband and wife._

 _When Madoka unwrapped the present, she found that it was a picture frame made of brown wood, and inside the frame was a candid shot of the two of them on their wedding day. It was a candid shot because the two of them weren't even looking at the camera; the picture was of Gingka right as he swooped Madoka, white dress, bouquet and all, up off the ground into his arms for the traditional kiss. When asked about that, the best way Madoka could sum it up was: Gingka Hagane was quirky like that._

 _"Oh, Gingka, it's beautiful!" Madoka exclaimed._

 _Gingka grinned. "You like it? I didn't even know Kenta took that picture until recently, and I asked him if he could make me a copy."_

 _"I love it, thank you, Gingka," Madoka said, giving him a kiss._

 _They had been kissing for about five seconds when Madoka suddenly drew back, turning pale._

 _"Madoka?" Gingka questioned, concerned. "What's wrong?"_

 _Madoka didn't reply. Instead, she clamped a hand over her mouth, sprang off the couch, and ran out of the room. Gingka stayed sitting on the couch in confusion, wondering what the heck just happened, when he heard Madoka throwing up and sprinted out of the room towards the bathroom. When he got there, he found Madoka leaning over the toilet, still throwing up. He knelt down beside her and rubbed her back until she finished._

 _"Are you okay, Madoka?" he asked as she slowly lifted her head up. While she still looked a little nauseous, Gingka also found that she had a curious look on her face, as though she was making a connection of some sort._

 _"I'm… I'm fine. Gingka, do you think you could leave me alone for a second?" Madoka asked._

 _Now very confused, Gingka decided to go along with it and left the bathroom, closing the door behind him and heading back to the living room._

 _A few minutes later, Madoka came back into the room, looking better than before, but for some reason worried, and carrying a white stick in one hand._

 _"Is everything okay, Madoka?" Gingka asked her, getting up off the couch._

 _Madoka took a deep breath before replying. "Okay, Gingka, don't… don't freak out when I say this, but…"_

 _"But what?"_

 _Madoka bit her lip. "But… um… oh for Pete's sake, just look for yourself!"_

 _She thrust the white stick at him, and turned away. Okay, now he was seriously confused._

 _Gingka looked down at the white stick, and turned it over to find two little blue lines._

 _Immediately, his brain screeched to a halt as he stared at the two blue lines, wondering if they meant what he thought they meant._

 _He looked up at Madoka, his face showing nothing but shock. "Is it… are you…"_

 _Madoka bit her lip and nodded._

* * *

"'… It sounds ridiculous, I know, but I seriously thought that Gingka was going to freak out. Actually, he kind of did, but in a good way. As soon as it sank in that I was pregnant, he was over the moon with excitement that he was going to be a father. In fact, he's still over the moon with excitement! I'm excited too! Well, at least we'll be pregnant together, right? We still have to tell my dad the news, but I think I'm going to wait before telling Gingka we have to. I don't want to spoil his excitement by making him freak out that Dad's going to punch him. Once again, congratulations, and good luck—to both of us! Madoka.'"

Hana giggled again as Kabu finished the letter. "I wonder what Papa did to Dad when Mom and Dad told him!"

Tora was too busy rummaging through the trunk again to reply, but Kabu laughed and replied, "I bet he knocked him out!"

They both laughed.

"Hey, look at this one!" Tora exclaimed as he pulled out another letter. "This one's from someone called… Hyoma, and it's to Dad!" He looked up at Hana and Kabu. "Should I read it?"

Kabu and Hana nodded, so Tora sat back down on the floor and opened the envelope. He unfolded the letter, and read the words written.

"'Dear Gingka: How are things with you? I heard you and Madoka are having twins. Congratulations on that! Bet Madoka's dad wasn't too pleased!

'Things are pretty quiet here in Koma Village. All our old friends miss having you around to have a beybattle with. Even Hokuto misses you, although he'll probably never admit it. I miss you, too, even though you visit regularly. I guess now that kids are on the way, you won't have much time to come visit. But when you find the time to visit, if you ever do, we need to have another beybattle. Make no mistake, Aries and I will beat you this time! Maybe when you come visit, you can bring the twins. Bet you five they'll try to give Hokuto a bath.

'Hope to hear from you soon, and good luck with the twins! Your friend, Hyoma.'"

Tora finished reading and looked up. "That's it," he said to Kabu and Hana.

"Who's Hyoma?" Hana wondered. "And why's he writing to Dad?"

Tora's eyes widened as he suddenly remembered something he heard Gingka and Madoka talking about earlier that evening.

 _"I'm sure Hyoma's fine,"_

"Dad's been trying to find someone called Hyoma!" he exclaimed in realization.

Kabu and Hana looked at him. "How do you know that?" Kabu asked.

"I heard Mom and Dad talking about it earlier!" Tora explained. "I think Dad said he had Hyoma's number, too!"

"You know what I think we should do?" Hana began, in her infamous I Just Got An Idea voice.

"What?" Kabu and Tora asked.

"We should find Hyoma's number, and call him. We'll tell him Dad really misses him, and to come over tomorrow morning!"

"But where are we going to find this guy's number?" Kabu asked. Hana opened her mouth to answer, then closed it and slouched in disappointment.

Tora looked down at the letter. "Hey, wait, there's something else here!" He read aloud, "'P.S.: I just got a new phone, and I thought you might want to have the number. Call me sometime.'" Tora looked up excitedly. "The number's right here!"

"Awesome!" Hana exclaimed, getting up off the floor. "Let's go get the phone!"

Tora sprang up. "I'll do it! You guys wait here!"

Then he grabbed Hana's flashlight, and disappeared down the steps of the attic. He returned a few minutes later with the house phone, and turned off the flashlight as he sat down. Checking the letter to make sure he got it right, he punched in the number and waited.

After about a minute of waiting, a voice came over the phone. "Hi, this is Hyoma. I can't get to the phone right now, but leave a message and I'll call back as soon as I can. Thanks!"

Tora wasted no time, and said into the phone, "Hi, Hyoma, this is Tora Hagane. I think you're friends with my dad. Anyway, me and my sister Hana and our friend Kabu found a letter you sent to my and Hana's dad. My dad's been sending you a bunch of letters, but you haven't written back and it's making him really worried. Since it's Christmas, do you think you could come over to our house to visit? You don't have to if you don't want to, but it would make my dad really happy. If you can't, just send a letter, cause that would make Dad really happy too. We live above the B-Pit in Metal Bey City. Can't miss it. Thanks, and merry Christmas!"

Then he hung up. "Now what?" he asked Hana and Kabu.

Before either of them could reply, they heard footsteps on the attic staircase and froze as Kyoya emerged from the stairs.

He looked around at them all, raising an eyebrow. "What are you kids doing up here?"

Hana was the one who meekly answered. "We, uh, couldn't sleep?"

"And you decided to come up to the attic?" Kyoya questioned.

Kabu was about to say something when Kyoya held up a hand. "Actually, you know what? I don't want to know. You're lucky it's late enough for me not to care what you've been doing. Tell you what: if you go back to bed, and don't make any more noise, I'll let this slide. All right?"

"Yes, Dad," Kabu said obediently, while the twins chorused, "Yes, Mr. Tategami,"

* * *

The next morning, the Tategamis and the Haganes were gathered in the living room of the spacious loft above the B-Pit, while snow fell lightly outside. Hikaru, Kyoya, and Gingka were seated on the couch while the twins and Kabu were opening presents around the Christmas tree. Madoka, who was in the kitchen, came into the living room with a confused look on her face.

"Gingka, have you seen the phone?" she asked. "It was in the cradle in the kitchen last night, now it's gone."

Gingka frowned, now also confused. "It's not there?" he asked, getting up and following Madoka into the kitchen.

Kyoya turned to Hana, Tora, and Kabu and raised an eyebrow questioningly. The twins and Kabu looked guiltily at each other, something that did not escape Hikaru.

She raised an eyebrow at the kids. "Is there something—"

Hikaru was suddenly cut off by the sound of a doorbell buzzing. Everyone looked up, and heard Madoka say in the kitchen, "Who could that be? My dad did say he was going to come around for a visit, but that wasn't until later this afternoon…"

The twins and Kabu grinned at each other, having a pretty good idea of who it was.

"I'll get it, Madoka," Gingka volunteered, and passed through the living room on his way to the door. Immediately after he passed them, Hana, Tora, and Kabu sprang up and followed after him.

Gingka went over to the door and opened it, to reveal a man about Gingka's age with lavender hair. Gingka's jaw fell open at the sight.

Hyoma laughed at Gingka's stunned expression. "Hello to you, too,"

"Hyoma!" Gingka quickly lunged at his old friend that he hadn't heard from in weeks and enveloped him in a huge hug. "This is amazing! Do you know how many times I tried to contact you? What are you doing here?"

Hyoma chuckled as Gingka released him. "Good question. If you'll believe it, I got a call in the middle of the night last night from a little kid asking me to come visit you."

Madoka came to investigate why Gingka was taking so long right then. "Hyoma!" She went over and gave him a much gentler hug. "It's so great to see you! How did you get here?"

"It's good to see you too, Madoka," Hyoma replied, hugging her back. "And I was just telling Gingka that I got a message on my phone in the middle of the night last night from a little kid, who asked me if I could come visit you guys for Christmas." He looked over at Gingka. "I'm sorry, by the way, that I haven't been able to contact you. Koma got hit with a ton of snow two weeks ago, and it was only deemed safe to travel again two days ago. Any correspondence was cut off for a while."

"Wait a minute," Madoka interrupted, looking rather suspicious. "Hyoma, this little kid who called you; did they say who they were?"

"Yeah, he did," Hyoma nodded.

"Who was it?"

"He said his name was—"

"It was me, Mom," Tora suddenly interrupted.

Madoka and Gingka turned around to look at the three kids standing a couple feet away. "Tora?" Gingka said in amazement. "You called Hyoma?"

Tora nodded. "Me and Hana and Kabu were in the attic last night, and we found this old trunk full of letters. We found one from Hyoma that he sent to you, with his number. I heard you and Mom talking earlier about Hyoma, too, about how you hadn't heard from him for a while, and we decided to call Hyoma and ask if he could come visit you for Christmas. I know we shouldn't have been up in the attic when we were supposed to be sleeping." He looked down at the floor. "I'm sorry, Dad."

"Me too," Hana mumbled, also looking down.

"Yeah," Kabu added, looking down as well.

For one long moment, Gingka and Madoka were both silent as they looked at the three kids. Then, Hana, Tora, and Kabu all got the shock of their lives when Madoka suddenly wrapped them in a huge hug.

"That was so sweet a thing you decided to do," she said tearfully to them. "Don't be sorry!"

Hana, Tora, and Kabu looked at each other with wide eyes and chorused, "Really?"

"Really," Gingka confirmed, kneeling next to Madoka and hugging the kids as well. "This is probably the best gift I've ever gotten. Don't be sorry at all!"

And as Gingka, Madoka, the twins, and Kabu led Hyoma to the living room to greet Kyoya and Hikaru, Hana's eyes suddenly lit up. "Hey, I forgot something!"

She ran out of the room, and was heard bounding up the stairs. After a few seconds, she returned, carrying something in her hand, and went over to Madoka. "I think you were looking for this earlier, Mom."

And in Madoka's hands she placed the phone.

* * *

 **A/N: Ta daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!**

 **Welp, at over five thousand words this is officially going down in history as my longest oneshot ever! And the last story I post on this website in 2016!**

 **Like I said earlier, I was inspired to write this story after coming back from a Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert, but the TSO concert I saw yesterday wasn't the one that really got my muse going. The show that did was the first Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert I ever saw two years ago with my dad, entitled "The Christmas Attic". The story was about a little girl who, on Christmas Eve, discovered a trunk in her attic filled with letters and photographs, and who ultimately got a man and woman back together just in time for Christmas. Of course, in this story two friends are reunited, but I was really inspired by the events in the story, and the concept of the little girl reading letters from a time long past.**

 **I hope you guys enjoyed this story, and I hope you all had a great Christmas. If either or both are true for you, leave me a review! Tell me how I did, tell me what you got for Christmas, whatever, just leave a review! Reviews are love!**

 **Everyone have a happy New Year!**

 **Gryffyn is out. See you in 2017!**


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